Uganda’s song thieves

By Joseph Batte For the last couple of weeks, sweet-voiced Ronnie Kavuma has been making news in more ways than one. The good news first: His zouk song Mujune, is a pleasant groove that has stuck to our ears like super glue. The bad news is that mellow-voiced Kavuma has earned himself a dubious name over his Mujune. It has come to our attention that Kavuma is a rabid liar and cheat who has been thriving on other people’s sweat. He steals other people’s songs and sings them as his own compositions. He coins some of these songs from their original lyrics by pasting his own words and calls it his composition. The catchy chorus of his Mujune was stolen from Mujje Tubyine (Come let us dance) which is a composition by Rwandese musician, Jean Paul Sambutu. Folks at CBS got a copy of the original and played it on air. The revelation has shaken the entire music fraternity. Last week Capital Radio stoked the fires further, when the original composer was carted in to shade light on the controversy. However, after further investigation we learn that Kavuma has stolen more than just a chorus. His has been pinching songs since he breezed on the local music scene in 1999. Some of the tunes are from as far back as the early 70s, while others are from as far away as Spain. The entire melody of Roseana, the lead track of his debut album in 1999, is a zouk tune from West Africa, while Angelina, another hit on Mujune album, is Spanish, verse and chorus. When asked to comment on the allegations, a repentant Kavuma, who initially avoided the press like a plague, said he was sorry about what he had done. “It is true I stole the chorus of Mujune from a Rwandese musician called Jean Paul Sambutu when I went to Rwanda in 1999. I occasionally go to Rwanda to visit and can speak Rwandese. I was in the bar when I heard the Rwandese version Mujje Tubyine. It was a beautiful song, but it was the chorus that captured my attention. I did not need a cassette to get it. I recorded it in my head and came back to Kampala. Later I made it the chorus of composition of my Mujune.” Kavuma also admits that Roseana is not his original composition. “I also lifted that one. The original version is called Rose. It is one of those very old zouk hits from West Africa.” Kavuma is a small cell of a chronic cancer that has been eating Uganda’s music industry. “You should know this. The truth is that almost every Ugandan musician has been stealing songs. The problem was that nobody had ever come out to denounce the practice until now. “Sometimes we young musician in Uganda have to depend on international musicians in order to get there. This we do by lifting their popular compositions,” Kavuma reveals with a nervous chuckle. Talking about other thieving musicians, hear the terrible clay-foot truth about Ragga Dee. His intention of using Congolese dance music style to power his Luganda dancehall style initially sounded cute and creative. Unknown to many, the instrumentation of his Njagala Dance hit he released last year, is a carbon copy of Wenge Musica’s Sololabien through the sebene(the lengthy instrumentation) and even the animation (rapping)! Few months ago, he was back at it again with Cissy. The Introduction of Cissy, is shamelessly lifted from Awilo Longomba’s Sequestration. This single is taken off Awilo’s latest Cache Cache album. In both songs he used studio recording trick called looping. He then tried to disguise the music with some keyboard stabs. Perhaps the most glaring example of Ugandan musicians who flaunted the copyright law with impunity was Jimmy Katumba and the Ebonies. Not only did he model his singing style to Jim Reeves, but the group also made a name for themselves by recording Reeve’s songs in Luganda. For example, The Wreck Of The Number Nine, was recorded as Kinawakata. Don Williams’ Senorita was also recorded in Luganda. Mr. Gayi, one of the directors of Kasiwukira Studios, who originally published Ronnie Kavuma’s Mujune before he pulled out of the deal, says he does not condone such practices of stealing other people’s compositions. “Sometimes we don’t know where exactly these musicians get their songs. Besides, it is very hard to monitor all the songs in the world. I heard the original Rwandese version on my car radio. That is when I learnt that Kavuma had stolen it.” Diamond Productions’ Kazibwe, one of the hottest producers on the local scene says all the Ugandan musician steal songs and instrumentals. “Some even translate the lyrics in Luganda. The problem is that they steal foolishly,” says Kazibwe. Producer Robert Segawa says the late Umaru Katumba was another plagiarist. “The instrumentation of all his songs were either South African songs or Congolese. He used to walk in the studio and tell Tony Sengo to play the music as was recorded by a South African or Congolese band. At the end of the day Katumba got the credit for being original,” says Segawa. Ironically, it is the same Segawa who recorded Kavuma’s Mujune. “We met on the streets and he asked me to produce him. After a few days he came to Kasiwukira Studio, sat on the stool and sung for me. I programmed some music for him. Later, I learnt he had got the chorus from Rwanda, but till then I had never heard of original version. That is why the instrumentation we created for Mujune is different from the original Rwandese version. Segawa alleges that the person who sparked all the problems for Kavuma is a local promoter called Abbey Musinguzi of Habitex Productions. He heard bits and pieces of Mujune and wanted to buy the copyrights but Kavuma turned him down. When Musinguzi went to Rwanda, he heard the Rwandese version of Mujune, bought copies and distributed them to different FM radio stations. Segawa argues that Kavuma’s case should not come as a surprise. “Globally almost every musician sings someone else’s songs. Phil Collins’ Another day in Paradise has been remade by other musicians like Brandy. “Phil Collins recently also reproduced Cindy Lauper’s True Colours,” says the Ugandan producer. The only difference, says Segawa, is artists like Phil Collins operate in the west where the copyright law is very effective. “They will always seek permission and pay royalties for any song they want to sing which is not their own composition.” Segawa decries our MPs who have ignored tabling the copyright bill in the House, which has led many artistes to suffer at the hands of plagiarists.